Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

MyHeritage DNA offers a basic look at your genetic makeup, but it doesn't include any information to help you interpret the results or learn more about how your ancestors lived.

July 13, 2019

MyHeritage DNA offers a full genealogical package: DNA testing and matching and free family tree software. It presents your results with fun, music-backed animation, and you can see where your ancestors lived on a globe. However, there's no way to dig deeper into your results other than to explore DNA matches. If you're looking for a DNA testing service that syncs with genealogy software, MyHeritage DNA doesn't measure up to Ancestry's offerings. Furthermore, the service has none of deeper ancestral analysis offered by other competitors, nor health screening data offered by 23andMe.

Pricing and DNA Collection

To order a kit, all you must do is provide your year of birth and sex. MyHeritage DNA charges $79 for a kit and shipping costs $12. If you order two kits, you get half-price shipping. If you order three or more, you get free shipping. Choose what you want your display name to be, and then accept the site's terms and services and you're all set.

I received my kit within a week and quickly registered it by adding its barcode to my account. Kits are tracked by number and not name, so you need to do this to get your results. Once I registered my kit online, a screen popped up with instructions that matched what's on the packaging. This DNA kit consists of two swabs and two vials of a stabilizing solution. The swabs have cotton tips and plastic arms. Once you've swabbed a sample, you place the swab in the solution. First, however, you snap off the plastic part, which is easier said than done. The first time, I resorted to using scissors to snip it off; the second time I figured out that you can snap it off by pressing it against the inner threads of the vial. In any case, I'd recommend keeping scissors handy.

Once you have the samples secured in the vials, you just place them in the provided envelope. You must provide postage, though. 23andMe also requires you to pay shipping in both directions.

DNA Reports and Extra Features

My results were ready within a few weeks. MyHeritage DNA has the most dramatic reveal of your results of any other DNA kit I've tested. When I clicked the notification email to access my results, it opened with a spinning globe set to regional music. When it stops, a map reveals your results with hotspots indicating your ethnicity, and percentages listed to the left. I enjoyed the pageantry, I'll admit. While the results from 23andme and AncestryDNA were nearly identical, MyHeritage DNA showed a slight deviation. Not surprisingly, it still pegged me as mostly Irish, Scottish, and Welsh, but it also threw in 6.3 percent East European, which I hadn't encountered before. The music started out sounding Celtic, and then switched to an eastern European sound; it's an amusing touch. You can zoom in and out of the map, but you don't get any more detail than what's already there.

It would be nice to see more information about the regions in which your ancestors lived and what may have caused them to migrate to where they did. That's real invitation to investigate further with most other services. Instead, your results in MyHeritage DNA feel like a stopping point, unless you decide to create a family tree. In that case, you get access to tools such as smart matching, which finds matching profiles in other members' family trees and record matching, which pulls in records associated with people on your family tree. MyHeritage also has a search engine that it claims sorts through billions of historical records.

DNA Matching

You can choose to get DNA matches by going into privacy settings. If you opt in, you get emails about other MyHeritage users whose DNA matches yours. In my case, I received several notifications about distant relatives, including fourth and fifth cousins. In all, I have over 140 matches as of this writing. Note that with 23andMe, I currently have nearly 1,000 matches, however, and with AncestryDNA, I have about 3,000 matches, and there I also have access to Ancestry's genealogy software, which is a PCMag Editors' Choice.

MyHeritage DNA does offer its own free family tree software, however. You can invite other relatives to collaborate on the family tree too. As you build a family tree, you and your family members can upload related photos, and search MyHeritage's database for census records and voter lists as well as birth and death certificates and other public records to flesh out your family tree entries.

If you've already had your DNA analyzed by another service, such as AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, or 23andMe, you can upload the raw DNA data to MyHeritage DNA.

MyHeritage has a help center with information ranging from basic instructions about payments and settings to guidance about understanding your DNA results and tips for building a robust family tree. You can also call MyHeritage DNA toll-free in several countries including the United States, Canada, Israel, and several European countries.

Lots of Fanfare, Basic Genetics

MyHeritage DNA reveals your results with much fanfare, but once you've taken them in, there's nothing else to explore. I'd love to see more information about how my ancestors lived and why and how they migrated and came to meet. It does offer free full-featured family tree software, though, with a lot of helpful features for finding records and discovering new relatives. For DNA testing, we recommend going with Editors' Choice 23andMe, which offers far more detail, or AncestryDNA, which includes a lot of research resources as well as family tree software.

Note that consumer DNA testing isn't just for humans, anymore. If you're curious about your dog's heritage, check out our roundup of the best dog DNA kits, too.